Still here and most of the state is on fire

 We're still here...healthy and at least partially sane!   We don't go out much.   I run errands and hubby stays home.   And, I don't run errands often, maybe once a week.   I always wear my mask and I get in and out as quickly as I can...NO DAWDLING!

Most of California is on fire.   The Apple Fire is now 95% contained, but now Whitewater Canyon and Preserve are closed due to... flash flood danger!   We are having afternoon thunderstorms and they have been hit by rain in the fire-damaged areas.  Northern California has been hit by lightning strikes causing many fires up there.   How sad.   One of the redwood parks has been completely burned, even the visitors' center...sigh...Our president will say we didn't rake up enough pine needles...(eye roll...)

August is dragging on and on and on.   It looks like we will FINALLY get a break from the heat & humidity around the end of the month.   In the meantime, a Coopers' hawk comes every day now and sips water at the bird bath, although one day he did kill a dove and I found its...wing...in the bird bath when I filled it up the next morning!   Ugh.   

Bunny comes to visit, too.   I have 3 hummingbirds in the yard and I clean and refill their feeders often.  The bees emptied two of them yesterday.

I'm currently babysitting (taking turns with the other grandma) the 7 year old second grade granddaughter now for 2 weeks at a time.   She is doing distance learning and we take turns sitting with her making sure she is ON TASK and not picking her nose on Zoom.  She has to get dressed, eat her breakfast, and brush her teeth and get her hair up in a ponytail every morning for school.   They do the pledge and their school motto first thing every morning and then they do 15 minutes of quiet math.   She was tested on her math ability and scored at a 4th grade in algebra!   SO PROUD OF HER!   She does math problems in her head. Once in a while I see her counting on her fingers, but not very often.   She is definitely way ahead of me!   She DOES, however, need to work on her writing skills.

So, life goes on.   Our son and his family are now all the way across the country, so we communicate via Messenger.   His youngest is 3 years old today.

Stay healthy!

XOXOXOXO

Cheryl

Enjoying the koi pond up in Idyllwild a few weekends ago...That's Bodie, our dog.   He goes with us.